SPECTATOR SPORT
Cricketer most admired
Frank Keating
IAN BOTHAM'S recall to the England cricket side cheers me no end. Fingers crossed that old Beefy will bring home some bacon. Only 18 months ago, just after his serious back operation, we fished a day at the Nyth's blissful tumbling stretch near Builth. He could hardly walk, let alone wade, but still roped in his first Wye salmon — an elderly, silvery, old dear and afterwards bridled joshingly when I said his only remote hope for a return to serious cricket was as a blocking, barn- door, creasebound opening type. The utter picket-peppering hooraymanship of his even-time centuries at Worcester against two seriously strong bowling attacks this past fortnight made doltish such caution- ary, fraternal advice.
The county cricketers of England also delight in the return of Botham. The bread-and-butter rank and file have always relished the big fellow's bonny bravado down the years, and what the Australians call his `mateship' in the pub after bad light stops play. Witness the vote in the newly minted edition of the indispensable Cricke- ters' Who's Who (Collins, £9.99). No jealousy about Botham, unlike some others I could mention.
Every single first-class player on the books of the 17 county sides has an entry. A compulsory question is 'Cricketer Most Admired?' Warmingly, 51 vote for Botham, with only Richard Hadlee (43) getting near him. Viv Richards polls 39 votes, Malcolm Marshall 35, David Gower 22, and Graham Gooch 18, five more than Gordon Greenidge. There are seven nominations for the stalwart Chris Tavare, which is nice and fully deserved.
Forty list golf as their favourite relaxa- tion. Seventeen fish seriously, Botham specifically listing 'salmon and trout', Allan Lamb salmon only, John Morris fly-fishing, and Richard Williams fly-tying. Among the dozen keen gardeners are Wayne Larkins, John Emburey, and Graeme Fowler. The nine crossword addicts include Gower and Nick Cook. When the pavilion window-panes drip with rain, Wilbur Smith's books seem favourite, though Mike Gatting is 'hooked on Tol- kein', Derek Pringle and Peter Roebuck on Milan Kundera and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and, as the latter adds, 'lots of other novelists I won't mention as it might be bad for the image'.
Gordon Lord loves church organ music. Jack Russell has had exhibitions and many commissions for his sketches, oils, and watercolours. Sussex's 'Ginger' Speight also paints in oils, and was the second most academic schoolboy of the 250–odd, with thirteen 0 levels and three As, to Tim Curtis's twelve Os and four As. Michael Atherton has ten Os and three As.
Among the 'Claims to Fame', Gatting lists 'bronze medal for ballroom-dancing at Neasden Ritz', Richard Ellison his 'debut role in Canterbury Operatic Society's Fid- dler on the Roof; and Graham Cowdrey has 'seen the true genius, Van Morrison, 70 times in concert'.
The parents of Hampshire's `Dutchy' Bakker are called Hubertus Antonius and Wilheltnina-Hendrika, and mum and dad of Gloucestershire's Mark Alleyne answer to Euclid Clevis and Hyacinth Cordelia. If God's on anyone's side, I daresay it's the West Indies: Winston Davis enjoys the `ups and downs' of cricket's religious philo- sophies, Ian Bishop's hobby is 'reading theological books', and Viv Richards re- mains 'a religious person to the delight of 'my parents; I pray every night before going to sleep, occasionally for success on the field'.
Well, if they've got God, at least we have Botham back.
Previous page
